The Eternal Kingdoms

by Alice Knight

  Thorn creeps up behind us and takes his place on my otherside, I grind my teeth together and mentally shove my inner rage into a box pushing it to the back of my mind.

  “Well well well the elusive princess returns” Miya throws in my direction. She is the mother of my mate, we don't want to kill her as it would upset said mate, I repeat this in my head like a mantra.

  “There is no need for sarcasm Miya, you know this was all out of Skylar’s control. She is a victim like the rest of us.” Ava defends me without hesitation. I give her a slight smile before addressing the other Queen.

  “Your Majesty, I’m sorry if you feel like I slighted your family, but I am here now to make amends” I force the words out of my mouth while swallowing my own sarcastic resort. Before she can respond to my declaration, the King is speaking.

  “We understand and accept your apology, now to the business at hand. You will be marrying our second son Thorn in 1 week. This has been discussed and accepted by your parents.” I do my best fish impression as my mouth falls open, I close it before anyone catches me.

  A week? 7 days? No no that's not enough time!. Aireme is squeezing my hand trying to silently support me while I have my silent mental meltdown. Words are way out of my league at the moment all I can do it nod. I glance towards Thorn who looks as calm as a cucumber, what kind of man is this calm when the topic of marriage is being discussed!

  Breath Sky, your starting to turn blue. It’s almost over then you can go see Freya.

  I know Aireme is trying to make this easier on me but my heart and mind just won't accept the fact that it’s Thorn next to me not Drake.

  What feels like a lifetime, later I’m in my room screaming out my frustration into my pillow. Stopping long enough to take a deep breath then screaming some more, my bedroom door opens and Freya wanders in with a bottle of scotch and two glasses.

  “Hey girlfriend, look what I found” She gives me a small smile and shakes the bottle in my direction.

  “A little birdie told me, you need to get drunk and act stupid.” Taking a seat on the bed next to me, she pours us each a glass full of booze and hands me one while putting the bottle on the floor in arms reach for when we need refills. I take a mouthful of the liquid and swallow it relishing the burning down my throat.

  “Well witchy, if you wanted to throw me a hen do with booze and stripper, you have less then a week to make it happen.” Frey chokes on her drink and it goes everywhere.

  Cursing she whispers a spell and the mess disappears.

  “Shit sister, I don't actually have any words of wisdom for this one” Shrugging to her I down the rest of the alcohol and hold my glass out to her signalling for a refill.

  “I need some liquid courage for later” I admit to her. “Drake doesn't know yet huh” She deduces.

  “Nothing gets past you my little witch”My voice is full of sarcasm. I phase my glass away and snatch up the scotch bottle from Freya. She doesn't mind, knowing me better than most, that if my aim is to get drunk, I’ll need more then one bottle.

  “Everything will work out Sky, if I do catch you down the aisle with the wrong groom, I’ll freeze the attendees and we will portal to freedom.” She says stubbornly.

  As much as I’m loving her plan, in this instance I can't be as selfish as my heart wants to be, not with this many lives depending on me.

  Drake phases in at around the same time as the last words leave Freya’s mouth, confusion is plastered all over his pretty face.

  “You two planning a your great escape?” He looks at me curiously. I avoid his gaze like it holds the plague.

  “Well that's my que to exit stage left” Frey announces as she makes a break for the door.

  I watch as her ass disappears into the other room, lucky bitch. Drake comes to take the spot Frey was in and gazes at me. Do you think he can tell I’m trying to make the ceiling and the wall behind him look more interesting than talking to me? The alcohol has me buzzing but still not brave enough for this conversation.

  I feel his fingers grasp my chin as he turns my face so I can't look anywhere but into his eyes. I let out the breath I didnt realise I was holding, mentally snapping the band of my pants trying to remind myself that I put them on and I can't avoid this talk.

  Squaring my shoulders back, holding my head high, I spot something in my mate’s eyes that tells me he knows more than he is letting on. Curiouser and curiouser, taking a deep breath I unleash everything that happened this evening and pray that my mate understands.

  As calm as I’m trying to be while I wait for my Skylar to tell me what I already know is coming. I can't help but bristle when I watch her straight up her spin, nor can I help the low growl that begins to escape my throat when she replays the meeting she was forced to attend earlier.

  What she doesnt know is the fact I was there the whole time, I stood in the shadows and watched from the balcony above, as her face fell when she heard the cold hard truths of our situation.

  We used to agree that this is barbaric, that we could find another way to ally with the other kingdoms against the dark fae who want nothing more then to rule over all four kingdoms, no matter how much blood he has to spill to get there.

  It appears now tho that my mate’s train of thought changed at some point. My knees almost buckled from under me when I heard her agree to the terms of the arranged marriage. It doesn't matter that I can literally feel her heart breaking from the mate markings I wear, at this point in time there is not a damn thing I can do about it. I can't go and console my mate or hide her from the rest of the world. All I could do was stand in the shadows watching Aireme and Thorn try to do my job for me.

  Well to hell with this, she may have given up on us but I damn sure won't, I’ll find another way we can be together without the other kingdoms falling even if it is the last thing I do.

  After my long explanation that ended up sounding more like a anger rant, we sit in silence just taking each other in. Neither of us say anything more or move we just sit in the silence staring at one another.

  I don't know what I was expecting from him but comfortable silence was not it, an angry yelling, pain in the ass alpha Drake I can deal with. This thoughtful quite version has me on edge waiting to see his reaction. I mean I just told my chosen mate who currently holds my marks and who has been chasing my ass for over a century that it was all for nothing and I have agreed to an arranged marriage to his brother.

  The only thing that indicates that he heard anything that just came out of my mouth is the almost silent growls coming from his chest and the fact his eyes are moving. I feel the need to start the yelling first, almost craving his reaction, needing to hear him say he won't give up on us and that we will stop this.

  Instead of reassuring me with words, he practically jumps me, shock at the sudden kiss he is planting on me causes me to take longer to react than I should. Soon his growling gets louder and he becomes rougher with me, this spurs me into action, giving him just as good as I get.

  As we fall into each other's arms the rest of the world and our responsibilities to it start to fall away as well.

  The next morning, as usual Drake has already left before I wake the only indication that we spent the night together is the pleasurable ache between my legs. Kicking the covers off of my body, I head towards the bathroom in desperate need of a shower. I almost moan as the hot water hits me, God! this is the best feeling in the world.

  As I soap up my body, I imagine all my troubles washing away with the suds. For the next 10 minutes of my shower I’m carefree I have no one counting on me, no obligations. Just me, the hot water pouring over my skin and the shampoo bottle that I’m pretending is a microphone, that I'm currently belting out music with.

  Once I turn off the tap though, I’m hit with the cold air and everything I have to do comes screaming back. Sighing to myself I wrap up in another fluffy towel, with a smaller one on the top of my head containing my wet red locks.

  Right I’ve done far to mu
ch serious shit, now I need a rewards for not telling everyone especially The Red Queen Miya to go suck an egg. With my mind made up I quickly dry myself, throwing my hair up into a high ponytail which lately seems to be my go to look. Fully embracing my birthday suit I march out into my living room, heading over to my walk in wardrobe. I find the warmest clothes in there and get dressed. I give off a little whistle as I check myself out in the mirror. Black skin tight cargo trousers, calf high boots with a fur lining to keep my toes nice and warm. To finish off my look, a plain black top under a eggplant coloured military coat. Damn, I look good, I swear I can pull off any outfit.

  Phasing straight out to the farm land I saw when we first arrived here. Thank God, I thought ahead and dressed against the cold, Christ it is freezing out here. I jump up and down a few times to get my blood pumping then head off into the town.

  This place looks like it has only just come out of the stone age, I do find it odd that I have been walking around for a while now and have yet to see a single mode of transportation, I guess these fae rely heavily on phasing everywhere.

  The air is so fresh here, pollution is most likely not a big issue here, I find their shops fascinating, not a single shopping centre, instead, there are open front shops with everything on display. It’s like the whole place is one giant market, I suppose products behind locked doors wouldn't do any good if the entire population can just teleport things to their hands at will.

  All the clothing here is completely different, also it’s all so elegant and beautiful, not one pantsuit in sight, now this I can get used to. The only downside I can see at the moment is not a single nightclub in the whole city, I even tried to ask people, they made it seem like I had grown two heads, so I eventually stopped and just prayed that even if I am forced to say here, I can still visit Chaos.

  Maybe I should put that in my vows? Right along the same lines as I want my own room and if Thorn touches me I can kick him in the family jewels? I love the idea of vows, I mean I could come up with hundreds of rules for this marriage!

  Taking a left hand turn at the end of the market I start hunting for the closest cafe, I want some of that fruit and cheese Drake fed me earlier my stomach growls at the prospect. From out of nowhere, a fae comes running past me knocking me almost off my feet, luckily for me someone catches me before I meet the curb. . Jesus “Watch where your running!” I shout after him.

  Turning towards my saviour as he puts me back up right, “Thank you for that, I apologise I didn't even see him coming” I laugh heartily, when I notice he still has a hold of my hand.

  I pull away from him, I’m starting to get a little creeped out that he hasn't said anything and is just staring at me. I feel a slight stinging and look down at my hand, there is a small scratch like a papercut, mostly likely thanks to the rude fae who almost knocked me on my ass. I shake it off and bid my saviour farewell, I only manage a couple of steps before the world starts spinning. Staggering to the nearest wall, I half lean, half fall against it.

  What in the holy hell is going on?

  My vision is becoming unfocused causing me to panic. I see a silhouette of a person coming towards me, Oh thank god I try to ask for help, but my words come out in a slur, my own ears don't even recognize the sounds as words. right before the lights go out. I see a hand reaching for me.

  To be continued...